Machine for stretching and drying shade-cloth



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

W BAILEY. MACHINE FOR STRBTGHING AND DRYING SHADE CLOTH.

No. 498,609. Patented May 30. 1893.

WITNESSES:

MAW

A TTOHNE YS.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

W; BAILEY. MACHINE FOR STRETGHI'NG AND DRYING SHADE GLOTH. No. 498,609. Patented May 30, 1893.

WITNESSES.

- through the machine.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM BAILEY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR STRETCHING AND DRYING SHADE-CLOTH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 498,609, dated May 30, 1893.

Application filed June 10, 1892.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM BAILEY, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and .Improved Machine for Stretching and Drying Shade-Cloth, of which the following is a-fu1l, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to an improved machine for stretching and drying shade cloth after the sizing has been applied to it; and it is the object of the invention to produce a machine exceedingly simple, durable and economic, and which may be conveniently operated.

A further object of the invention is to provide for the expeditious and ready attachment of the cloth to the machine, the conveying of the cloth in a circuitous route through or over drying apparatus, and to provide for the automatic stripping of the cloth from the machine when the cloth has been properly dried and stretched.

Theinvention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forminga part of this specification, in which similar figures and letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a central vertical section Fig. 2 is a front elevation partly in section, the section being taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspective detail view of a portion of a carrier adapted for use inconnection with the machine. Fig. 4 is a detail end view of the sliding bar of the carrier; and Fig. 5 is a detail view of a pin adapted for use in connection with the carrier.

In carrying out the invention a framework is erected which is somewhat rectangular in general contour, comprising two sides A and A, connected by cross bars suitably located. The sides comprise outer uprights 10, an intermediate upright 11, upper and lower horizontal beams 13 and 12 and intermediate beams 14 and 15, also horizontally located; but the frame may be otherwise constructed if in practice it is found desirable. The sides are located some distance apart, and in suit- Serial No. 436,180. (No model.)

able journals formed in both the front and rear uprights of the sides transverse shafts are journaled near the top and near the bottom, the upper forward shaft being designated as 16, the lower forward shaft as 17, the upper rear shaft as 18 and the lower rear shaft as 19, while a fourth transverse shaft 20, is journaled near the front in a position about intermediate of the top and bottom of the frame and intermediate 0f the top and bottom forward shafts 16 and 17.

Upon each of the shafts chain wheels are rigidly secured, the wheels being located two upon each shaft near the inner faces of the sides of the frame. The wheels upon the upper shaft 16, are designated as 21, those upon the lower shaft 17 as 22, those upon the upper rear shaft as 23, and the wheels upon the lower rear shaft are designated as 24, While those upon the intermediate shaft 20, are indicated by the reference numeral 25. Preferably all of the wheels with the exception of those upon the intermediate shaft 20, are provided with a series of peripheral recesses 26, and all of the wheels are made also of the same diameter.

A carrier is employed, designated as B, which carrier is adapted to receive and to carry with it the shade cloth to be dried and stretched. The carrier is made up of sections, the sections being duplicates of the one shown in detail in Fig. 3. This section of the carrier consists of a hanger 27, provided with a socket 28 at one end, adapted toreoeive a bar 29, the bar being preferably circular in cross section; and the socket is so made that it may be expanded to receive the bar, or contracted to clamp the bar. It is usually provided with a set screw 30, whereby the socket may be held in its contracted position. The opposite end of the hanger is usually bifurcated, producing thereby two members 31 and 32. These members ordinarily terminate in head blocks a and a, and the head blocks are provided with openings extending through them from side to side, the openings in the blocks being in horizontal alignment.

Through this opening an adjusting bar 33, is

passed, the bar being capable of sliding freely in the opening; and the bar may be held in the fixed position with respect to the hanger by means of a set screw 34., passed through one of the blocks to an engagement with the bar. One end of the bar, the outer end, has attached to it afriction roller35. This roller is usually pivoted upon the under' face of the bar. The opposite or inner end of the bar, which is shown in detail in Fig. 4, is provided with a slot 36, the said slot being usually'longitudinally produced; and that portion of the bar at each side of the slot is rendered more or less cylindrical in cross section, as illustrated at 37 in said Fig. 4.

In connection with sections of the carrier above described a series of links 38, is employed. These links are provided with hooklike or upset extremities 39, the extremities of two opposing links being adapted to enter the slot 36 of each adjusting bar; and along the inner edge of each link a series of pins 40, is longitudinally arranged, as is likewise best shown in Fig. 3, and these pins are adapted to pass through the shade cloth and hold the latter in engagement with the carrier.

A number of circular bars or rods 29, are used to form the chain-like carrier B; and upon each bar or rod, near each end a hanger 27, is secured, and each hanger, as heretofore stated, carries an adjusting bar 33. The rods or bars 29, extend from side to side of the machine; they travel over the outer side and top faces of the frame and over the chain wheels, the bars being so placed that they enter the recesses 26 in the peripheries of the wheels, and in the progress of the chain over the wheels the ends of the bar rest upon the horizontal intermediate bars and the lower bars of the sides of the frame, as shown in Fig. 1, being guided thereby. The chain carrier is therefore made up of the bars 29and the hangers 27,carried by the bars, the adjusting bars 33, carried by the hangers and the pin-carrying links 38 connecting the adjusting bars at each side of the frame, forming thereby an endless chain.

Upon one side of the machine, at the front, that is, the side adjacent to the side of the frame A, a perpendicular track 41, is located and properly supported, the track extending virtually from the bottom to the top of the machine. The friction rollers 35, located at the side of the machine adjacent to the side piece A, engage with the outer face of this track 41; and the rollers 35, at'the opposite side of the machine engage with another track 42, vertically located, and the track 42 is lo cated diagonally as well as vertically, as its upper end is much closer to the side A of the frame than its lower end. Thus it will be observed that the space between the tracks 41 and 42, is much wider at the top than at the bottom. The tracks 41 and 42 are continued along the line of the chain carrier, as shown in Fig. 1, extending along the top of the frame, along the upper intermediate beams 14, along the lower intermediate horizontal beam 15, and along the lower beams of the side pieces-as is all shown fully in Fig. 1. After the tracks reach the top of the machine they are parallel throughout the remaining portion of their length, and terminate beneath the lower forward shaft 17; and beneath the shaft 17, upon a cross bar 43, a stripper plate or knife 44, is secured, which is inclined upward so as to engage with the carrier.

In front of the machine a suitable tank 45, is located, adapted to hold the sizing material, and in the tank a roller 46, is held to revolve; and over the roller a second presser or guide roller 47, is placed, while the reel of cloth 48, to be acted upon, is placed in front of the tank 45, and receives its sizing while passing between the rollers'46 and 47.

In connection with the frame a net-work of pipes O, is arranged, and these pipes extend vertically up at the sides of the machine horizontally across the top and bottom, and in fact horizontally above and below the chain carrier throughout the path o'f'the latter. The pipes where they'pass over and below the carrier are provided with openings 49, to permit the hot air, or other heating or drying medium employed, and forced into, and through the pipes, to escape and impinge upon the cloth when it is attached to the carrier.

In the operation of the machine, when the cloth has passed through the sizing rolls it is made to engage with the pins 40 upon the chain carrier. It is thus carried upward around the wheels upon the shafts 1'6 and 17, over the top of the machine, and returned over the wheels upon the shafts 18, 19 and 20, in the meantime being subjected to the heat emanating from the pipes O, which dries the sizing compound, and when the stripper 44, is reached,it automatically tears the cloth-from engagement with the carrier, and it is wound up upon any suitable reel located at that point andin charge of a proper attendant.

The stretching is accomplished as soon as the cloth is placed upon the front portion of the carrier, and this stretching is gradually accomplished in the following manner: The adjusting bars 33 upon that side of the carrier at which the diagonally located track 42, is placed, are free to move in their hangers 27; while the adjusting bars at the opposite side of the carrier, whose friction rollers engage with the straight track 41, are securely fastened to their hangers by means of set screws 34. Thus as the cloth is carried upward it is stretched gradually as the rollers travel up the inclined plane alfo'rded'by the track 42; and when the top of the machine is reached, the tracks being at an equal distance apart the cloth will be maintained in a stretched position until it istaken from the carrier.

In order that the clothshall not shrink in the event the track above or between the top and bottom of the machine frame should become broken or indented, an aperture 50, is usually made in the adjusting bars 33, which will be exposed at one side of the hanger, as shown in Fig. 3, when the cloth has been stretched as much as desired; and when these apertures are exposed, pins 51, shown in Fig. 5, are dropped into the apertures, which effectually prevents the sides of the chain from approaching each other closer; and when the pins are used, before the stretcher acts upon the cloth, or at the time the stripper acts, the pins 51, adjacent to the stripperare removed.

Having thus described my invention, 1 claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. A stretching and drying apparatus, comprising a frame, an endless and circuitously traveling carrier in the frame, a series of heating pipes extending throughout the path of the carrier, and a stripper plate or knife engaging the carrier for removing the cloth from the carrier, substantially as described.

2. In a stretching and drying apparatus, the combination with an endless traveling carrier, of a stripper plate or knife arranged below and engaging the carrier, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a machine of the character described, the combination, with drums or chain Wheels, of an endless carrier passed over the same, a straight track located at one side of the carrier, a diagonal track located at the opposite side of the carrier, a rigid connection between one side of the carrier and the straight track, and an extensible or expansible connection between the opposite side of the carrier and the inclined or diagonal track, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4.. In a machine of the character described, the combination, with drums or chain wheels, and an endless carrier passed over said drums or Wheels, of a straight track located at one side of the carrier, a diagonal track located at the opposite side of the carrier, friction rollers fixed to the carrier and engaging with the straight track, an extensible projection emanating from the opposite side of the carrier, friction rollers carried by the said extension and engaging with the diagonal track, and a stripping device having bearing against the carrier, as and for the purpose set forth. 7

'5. In a device of the character described, the combination, with the carrying drums and an endless carrier located upon the drums, the said carrier consisting of a series of rods having hangers secured thereon, adjusting bars carried by the hangers, links connecting the adjusting bars at their inner ends, and friction rollers located at the opposite or outer ends of the adjusting bars, of tracks located at each side of the carrier and engaging with the friction rollers of the adjusting bars, one track being straight and the other diagonally located, and means for securing the adj usting bars in the hangers, and a stripper acting in conjunction with the carrier, as and for the purpose set forth.

. 6. Inastretching and drying apparatus, the combination with a frame, of drums arranged one. above the other at the front and rear of the frame, a drum intermediate oftheframe and the forward drums, an endless carrier traveling over said drums, a straight track at one side of the carrier, an inclined ordiagonal track at the opposite side of the carrier, and connections between the carrier and tracks, one of the connections being extensible, substantially as described.

7. In a stretching and drying apparatus, a cloth carrier comprising a series of sections, each composed of a hanger having a socket-at one end and head blocks at the'opposite end, a bar held in the said socket, an adjusting bar held in the head blocks and provided with a friction roller at its outer end, and links connected with the inner end of the adjusting bar, substantially as herein shown and described.

. WILLIAM BAILEY. l/Vitnessesz V J. FRED. AOKER, EDGAR TATE. 

